Rural Engagement in Primary Care for Optimizing Weight Reduction

Nearly 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural communities. Rural residents suffer at a higher rate from obesity and obesity-related illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. Local primary care physicians are an important resource for treating obesity in rural areas because of a lack of other community resources. This study is looking at how effective current, real-world primary care treatment models are in helping rural residents lose weight and maintain that weight loss. Physician clinics will be randomized (like picking numbers from a hat) to conduct one of the three methods. The method a participant is part of will depend on the method their physician's clinic is randomized to. The three methods involved in this study are: 1. Individual weight-management counseling in person (in clinic individual visits) 2. Group weight-management counseling, both in person and by telephone; the latter if preferred by the group (in clinic group visits) 3. Group weight-management counseling by telephone (phone group visits) Participants will be in the study about 24 months. The number of in-person clinic visits and phone calls each participant will be asked to complete depends on the method.